Coupling apparatus for railway-cars and the like.



A. PAsQuAzzoaL A. ns1. GOUPLING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY CARS AND THE LIKE.

. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2. I9l6 I 1,23538.

Patented July 3l, 1917 ALBERTO PASQUAZZO AND ANTONIO TISI, OF BUENOSAIRES, ARGENTINA.

COUPLING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY-CARS AND THE LIKE.

Continuation of application Serial No. 40,48%, filed July 17, 1915.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 31, 1917.

This application led .Tune 2, 1916.

Serial No. 101,295.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it knownthat we, Annnfro PASQUAZZO and AN'roNio Tisi, subjects of theKing of taly, residng at Buenos Aires, Argentina, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Coupling Apparatus for Railway-Cars andthe like; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description or' the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to a device for the automatic coupling of railwaycars, and its principal object comprises the provision of a device whichfacilitates the coupling of railway cars and obviates any dangerhitherto connected therewith.

A further object consists in providing a locking chain at one end of thecar, which is adapted to enter a throat formed by 1jaw plates at theother car.

Still a further object is constituted by the provision of a locking boltwhich, ordinarily in inoperative position, is released upon said lockingchain entering the throat.

Another object comprises the arrangement of thrust actuated means whichrelease the locking bolt to lock the chain within the throat under theinfluence of a thrust or impact.

A still further object consists in the arrangement of means forrestoring `the locking bolt tov inoperative position, said means beingmanually operated and easily accessible from the sides of the railwaycars.

Other objects will become apparent by reference to the specification andclaims which speciiically point out the scope of the invention.

ln the drawings the preferred embodiment of the invention isillustrated.

Figure l is a top plan view oi thecoupling device, partly shown insection, and

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken on the line CD of Fig. l.

The device comprises two principal parts A and B forming the coperatingelements oi' the coupling device. lThe part A enibraces a coupling chainmade of three interlinked rings a Z) c, of which the iirst one issecured to the transverse plate l attached to the appertaining drawbarof the railway car, while the last namedring c eiects the coupling.To insure the proper operative position of the chain, a double spiralspring 2 surrounds and supports the same, the spring being constructedand adapted to maintain the chain in horizontal position and to permitcontraction or expansion of the chain under the iniiuence of a suitableforce.

rThe part B comprises two vertical plates 3 secured together by means ofthree bolts d and nuts provided on said bolts, said plates being securedto the transverse part l of the draw bar by means of bolts and nuts e.rThe plates 3 are recessed at their engaging faces to form a guidewayfor a. locking lever 4, which is controlled by a plunger 5. `A spring 6interposed between the outer or rear end oi" the plunger 5 and the partl normally holds the plunger in the operative or extracted position inwhich the plunger enters a groove in the locking lever to lock the sameagainst vertical movement. The plunger is formed with a verticalabutment adapted to be engaged by an actuatitng member 7 rotatablysecured to an aXle indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. rTheV actuatingmember 7 projects with a finger between the abutment of the plunger anda stationary lug 9, and is thus locked against rotation in thecounter-clockwise direction, while its movement in the oppositedirection must overcome the tension of the spring 6.

To obtain the movement of member 7, and incidentally therewith ofplunger 5, a pawl 7" is rotatably secured on the aXle of the actuatingmember 7 and is adapted and arranged to bear against a lug g of saidmember, so as to rotate the latter in clockwise direction. Y'Vhile themovement of the pawl 7 in one direction brings it into engagement withthe lug g of the actuating member 7, whereby the latter is rotated,rotation of the pawl f in the opposite direction may freely take placewithout any effect upon the lock-controlling plunger 5. Immediatelybelow the pawl f and in proper relation thereto, a cam member S issecured on a shai't indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 and isconstructed to assume a position under the influence of its weight inwhich its projection l1, does not engage the pawl f.

From the foregoing it is obvious that when an impact or thrust isexerted upon the cam member 8, its nose k will bear against the pawl f,which latter, engaging the lug g, forces the projection of the actuatingmember 7 into engagement with the ini projection of the plunger 5,whereby the latter is forced to the right-hand side with respect to Fig.2, against the tension of the controlling spring 6.

The operation is as follows:

It be assumed that one car stands still, while the other is moving to becoupled to the other car. It be further assumed that one car either byreason of its construction, or by a superposed load is about threeinches lower than the other car. In approaching, notwithstanding thedifference oi level, the buffers of the `cars will abut, while thecoupling ring vof each car will strike the lower or upper liprespectively, of the mouth formed by a projection of the draw bar plate1 and the vertical plates 3. In the continuation of this movement thebuffers compress one another, while the coupling ring c, sliding von onelip of the mouth, strikes the cam member S, so that the latter isrotated about its axle in a counter-clockwise direction, so as to strike.in` its turn against the pawl f, and in the continuation of thismovement, as obvious, the plunger 5 will be forced into the retractedposition. At this juncture the locking lever il, released from itselevated position, drops under its weight until it is arrested in itsfall by an upper arm coming in contact with the lower part of abell-crank lever 12. ln this lower or locking position the leverprojects through the loch-ing ring c of the coupling chain andsimultaneously has entered an opening in the projection of the draw barplate 1. In coupling the cars, it is, of course, necessary that thespiral spring 2 allows the coupling vchain to shorten itself more thanthe buffers compress themselves.

From the foregoing it is thus obvious that coupling of the cars isautomatically effected by mere engagement of the buffers, so that thenecessity of a man standing between the buffers is entirely eliminated.The occurrence of accidents is thus raetically reduced to a minimum and,in ad ition, the time for effecting the coupling of railway cars ismaterially shortened.

To uncouple the railway cars, a metallic cord is provided at each end ofthe car immediately above the buffers, which extends from one side ofthe car to the other and 4is provided at the ends with a handle 1l,while sta-ples z' fixed at the ends of the car maintain the cord inproper position and permit the transverse movement of the same for apurpose presently -to be described. The innerend of the cord is securedto the upper arm of the bell-crank lever 12 secured to the verticalplates 3 and to the plate 1, and controlled by a leaf spring 13proceeding from the plate 1 and bearing against the upper arm of thelever. This arrangement permits a convenient uncoupling of railway cars,which may be effected by simply seizing the handle 11 and pulling thecord 1.0, whereby the bell-crank lever 12 is actuated. The latter, whenoseillated, lifts the locking lever 4f, thus releasing the ring C oi'the coupling chain, and at the end of its upward movement the lever 4Lis engaged by the plunger 5, and thus the uncoupling is elifected. lnseparating the uncoupled ears, the coupling rings leave the throat,while the cam member 8 is permitted under its own gravity to return toits normal or original position, in which its nose 7L is free otlengagement with the pawl f.

As will be seen by reference to Fig. 1, each car is provided with amouth and a coupling chain .on its draw bar plate, so that the couplingchain of one car comes into engagement with the mouth or throat of rthedraw bar plate on the other car. .The parts A and B of the lockingdevice are secured to v the draw bar 14 by means of the bolt l5, whichpermits a slight rotation of the plate 1, so that the force of tractionis equally divided between the parts A and B, even lat times when thetrain moves on a curve. To Jfurther .equalize uneven traction forces,two small elastic plates 11G are arranged on the draw bar, which mainlyserve the purpose to maintain the parts in normal position on the drawbar, preparatory and subsequent Ato coupling.

A turn-buckle 17 permits lengthening and shortening .of the draw bar,and its provision does not form part of the invention. A hook 18 isprovided for coupling the cars in 4case they are not provided with theparts A and B.

This application is a .continuation .of .applicants application kSerialNumber iOlSOf, filed July 17, 1915.

Vile are aware that various changes may be made in ith-e constructionVand .arrangement of parts, and ,we do not wish to confine ourselves tothe exact torna as shown in the illustration, but want to availourselves of such departures which fairly tall within the scope of theinvention, as pointed out in the appended claims.

lVe claim:

l. In combination with the draw bars of railway cars, transverse platessecured to said .draw bar, a coupling chain attached to one ot saidplates, means for holding said chain in operative position, a pair ofvertical plates forming a mouth with another of said draw bar plates, alocking key reciproca- -tingly tted between said pair of plates andadapted to lock said coupling chain within the mouth, means for holdingsaid locking :key in 'inoperative position, and mea-ns for releasing`said key.

2. ln combina-tion with .the draw bars of railway cars, transverseplates secured thereto, an expansilble vcoupling Chain attached to oneof said plates., means for holding said chain in horizontal position andpermitting its contraction and expansion under the influence of a force,a pair of vertical plates forming a throat with another of said draw barplates and being secured thereto, a locking member reciprocatinglyfitted between said pair of plates and adapted to lock said chain insaid throat, means for holding said locking lever in inoperativeposition, and means for releasing said lever.

3. In combination with the draw bars of railway cars, plates securedthereto, a coupling chain attached to each of said plates but onopposite sides of said draw bars, means for holding said coupling chainsin horizontal position, a pair of vertical plates secured to each ofsaid draw bar plates opposite to said coupling chain, said pairs ofplates forming a mouth with the respective draw bar plates to providefor the reception of the coupling chains, a locking leverreciprocatingly fitted between said plate pairs and adapted to lock saidchain in said mouth after introduction therein, means for holding saidlocking lever in inoperative position, and means for releasing saidlocking lever.

a. In combination with the draw bars of railway cars, transverse platessecured to said draw bars, a co-upling chain attached to one of saidplates, yieldable means for holding said chain in horizontal position, aplurality of vertical plates secured to and forming with the other ofsaid draw bar plates a throat, and automatic means for locking saidchain in said throat.

5. In combination with the draw bars of railway cars, transverse platessecured to said draw bars, a coupling chain attached to one of saidplates, yieldable means for holding said chain in horizontal position, aplurality of plates secured to and forming with the other of said drawbar plates an open throat, and chain-operated means for securing saidchain within said throat.

6. A coupling device for railway cars, comprising in combination withthe draw bars, transverse plates secured thereto, a coupling chain and apair of vertical plates respectively secured to the draw bar plates oneach side thereof, so that the chain of one draw bar plate is-opposed tothe pair of plates of the other draw bar plate, said pair of platesforming a throat with said draw bar plates to receive the appertainingcoupling chain, yielding means for holding said coupling chain in properposition, and thrust actuated means for locking said chain in saidthroat.

7. In combination with the draw bars of railway cars, plates secured tosaid draw bars, a coupling chain attached to one of said plates, meansfor holding said chain in operative position, a plurality of verticalvplates secured to the other of the draw bar plates and forming an openthroat with an extension thereof, thrust-operated means for locking saidchain in said throat, and manually operated means for disengaging saidchain, substantially as described.

ALBERTO PASQUAZZO. ANTONIO TISI.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C.

